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 It doesn’t matter if you spell them Christmas lites or Christmas lights, it means the same thing and sounds the same so everyone knows what you are talking about. Decorating your home for the holidays has become a custom that everyone participates in. Although decorating your trees for Christmas has been going on since the 17th century, electric lights weren’t used until the late 1800’s. Edward Johnson worked for none other than Thomas Edison and decided to get creative and made some Christmas lites to put on his tree. The incandescent red, white and blue lites he used were the size of walnuts. Thanks to his endeavors he is now known as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights.
The idea of using electric incandescent light bulbs to decorate your tree for the holiday caught on quickly. In almost no time, all sorts of businesses were hanging strands of these special Christmas decorations. At that time though, they were still too costly for the average blue collar worker. Because of the high price, they didn’t hit big until about the '30’s. Having the President of the United States of America endorse them did not hurt the growth in popularity either. Grover Cleveland was the first President to display Christmas lites on the tree of the White House. After that, strands were made commercially by General Electric Company.
The Christmas décor inside of many homes and businesses all around America and began to be lit up with these multi colored strands of decorations. The holidays have never been brighter. Use of these strands outside took a little more time. Believe it or not, San Diego is reported to have used them outside in 1904. Most people think it would have been New York, but the Big Apple didn’t display them until 1912. As with most things, displaying these lights outside was a progression. At first the only places you saw that showed off their bright decorations were huge corporations. It wasn’t until the 1950’s for the average family to go out and buy strands of lights and show their Christmas spirit.
The evergreen trees are the main places you think of having Christmas lites, but as time went on, the places where they turned up increased. Families and businesses alike started using this colorful item in other places around the home and building. Before you knew, it started to look a lot like the holidays of today. Strands were hung on the roof lines, railings, rafters, doorways and many more places.
It seems that everyone has a competitive side to them, so once people started decorating their home inside and outside with lights, the neighbors had to do better. Now we have prelit Christmas trees, lighted Nativity scenes, and lighted Christmas wreaths on cars and doors. When you drive around, it seems that nearly every house on the street is decked out with as many lights and decorations as they can display, including battery operated candles in the windows . Some people travel several miles just to look at Christmas lites during this wonderful time of the year. So go ahead and get an early start at an online Christmas store this year so you can have the brightest house on the block.
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